TMYW16's Judgement- Rewrite
by rwbybomb21
Summary: Frisk was normal...except she wasn't. Chara was dead...except she's alive. With things turning on their heads, these two, one human, another a hybrid, find ways to make it back to the surface with their sanity intact and their SOULS unbroken...even if it kills them. Hybrid! Frisk, OOC! Chara, Fem! Chara/Frisk.
1. Rough And Tumbling Down

**I'm gonna start off…simple. This is a re-write of TheMadYuriWriter16's story 'Undertale: Judgement'. I liked the story, but after the first couple of chapters it became painfully clear that their story was both underwritten and small in chapter size. Also, considering this was updated in April 22** **nd** **of 2016, I took it upon myself to create this- well, recreate this, actually.**

 **Well, I mean considering this this story was originally theirs, I'm gonna have to do…THAT. Yes, THAT, the dreaded thing that every writer hates doing, the bane of a writer's existence.**

 **A…*shivers*…Disclaimer. Ugh. I feel like vomiting after writing that.**

 **I don't own Undertale- Toby Fox does…that magnificent bastard. Also, I don't own the original idea, either- TMYW16 does-, but I do own any deviations from the original, plus my writing style, sense of humour, and lack of wit.**

(^^^^^^)

" _Frisk?"_

 _Hmm?_

" _what was your life like? on the surface I mean?"_

 _Oh…it's a long story_

" _we have time."_

 _ **-**_ _Sans to Frisk._

(^^^^^^)

Frisk's life was…normal, actually. Everything about it was normal; the food she ate- though she'd politely tell you to fuck off if you ever offered her human food- and the people she met, the experiences she had and the memories she shared with her family. Everything was normal, even the air she breathed- funnily enough- and the puns she was so obsessed with making every waking hour of every day…though she was more of a night owl anyway.

Everything about her was normal…well, _except_ for Frisk herself. Yes, Frisk was anything but normal, but she never let that get her down, now did she? Magic instead of Determination, bones and skin with no organs or muscles in-between- but still, that never stopped her from living a normal life with a normal-ish family and a normal mother and a normal father.

Except…her dad was anything _but_ normal. Well, being a skeleton that had somehow made it past the barrier that entombed the rest of his race beneath the mountain of Ebbot couldn't be normal by even monster standards, so to humans? To humans he was a sheer abnormality, a phenomenon that should not exist, but at the same time…he did. He'd been to the Void- the in-between of both life and death- and he'd travelled to places he still hadn't worked up the courage to properly explain to her. Sure, he'd told her, but it went right over her. The only thing she understood was something about timelines and RESETS, but again, the only thing she did understand from that was RESETTTING.

She could do that whenever she wanted to. Gaster had told her it was some sort of ability that hybrids possessed, or normal humans with abnormal amounts of Determination could wield- thankfully to a lesser extent, because the LOVE in their hearts could take them from the pure path the RESETS were meant to be used for. Or…something along those lines anyway- to be honest the only way she understood what he was talking about was that he wasn't talking.

At all…because he spoke in hands…

…hey, she knows two languages because of him, has cool magic, can teleport and can even remember timelines! That's got to offset the 'weird factor' that her father was, right?

Shrugging off that thought she stared down the hole her father had allegedly crawled out of- it was awfully deep, but she could see something gold at the bottom of the seemingly bottomless hole. Again, she thought that Gaster dragging his _bony_ backside out of the mountain through this way was just his way of tickling her… _funny_ _bone_. Hah, she needed to write a book of all the jokes she made, it was getting hard to keep track of them all.

Sighing, she turned to mirror in her hands, eyeing her pale complexion and eyeless eye sockets- two small white pinpricks rested where normal brown eyes would rest. Had Gaster not come along he had told her that she'd have inherited her mother's brown eyes- eyes that he said he wouldn't mind her having. His way of flattering her, or at least making her feel better. Her Jaw was nothing but bone, but from her ears up skin covered the rest of her face and head. Wrapping a scarf or something around her face was easy, and besides, the fact that Ebbot Village was always cold due to its close proximity with the mountain made wearing a scarf nearly all the time an easy excuse. Besides, if someone was questioning her fashion sense, she'd just give them the 'Patented Frisk Creepy Face (Trademarked, of course)'.

Ignoring the fact that her sweater was practically the same as every other kid's here, she relished in the knowledge that she had slippers instead of those stupid sneakers everyone seemed so keen on wearing. They showed off her skeletal feet and ankles, creeping people out if they did look down and exasperating her mother to no end. Though, after refusing to wear actual shoes for the seventieth time in a row, her mother finally gave up and simply asked that she try not to get them dirty.

Putting her bony hands in her pockets- skeletal for the left and human for the right- she turned around, ready to go back to the spot her family had set up for some sort of picnic they came here for. Of course she never did like human food, but if her mother cooked it, denying her wasn't an option. Neither was refusing her food even if it wasn't human food and some foolish attempt to create monster food; the woman had a heart as soft as wet cotton, so Frisk denying her anything became an impossibility, a trait she apparently shared with her father.

That man was whipped- whipped _good_ , but she couldn't really say anything because so was she. I mean, to have a mother that's so soft inside that she'd cry if she stepped on an ant? Yeah, you'd do anything to keep that smile on her face.

Somewhere in the distance she heard a whip cracking, but ignored it.

She caught sight of a blur of black, a shove to her _bone_ -hard chest- she'd have to remember that- and suddenly the hole her father had crawled out of- _allegedly_ , anyway, because she still felt he was lying to her about that- was what she found herself plummeting downwards in.

She turned her head, hard to do due to the velocity that she sped towards the ground at with wind whipping and nipping at her body, and spotted a patch of golden flowers that gravity seemed eager to drag her body towards.

Sighing just before she slammed back-first into the ground, she looked upwards again.

"Well, I don't find this very _humerus_ at all."

As her back crackled against the ground, her 99HP dropping to 9, she couldn't help the one thought that drifted through her head.

' _I wonder if we're having spaghetti tonight?'_

(^^^^^^)

The ground shifted around, waking Frisk from her short fall- well, more like large…gigantic…

…okay, it felt like she was falling for hours, even after her back hit the ground and she passed out. The falling feeling was still there, but perhaps that's because she was being rudely shuffled around, a hand clasping her shoulder and shaking her body roughly.

Thankfully her red scarf that her father said reminded her too much of something called a 'Papyrus' was still wrapped around her chin and lower face tightly, so all the person shaking her could see was a head of brown hair- unkempt, because Frisk never did like doing her hair- and closed eyes. Maybe they'd notice the skeletal left hand, or her bony ankles, but right now Frisk was too damn comfy on the ground. Hey, she was a pun-making, fun-loving, lazy ass skeletal human with barely any will at all to even _attempt_ to do anything remotely resembling an activity beyond sleeping. She was like that since birth, and again Gaster said it reminded him of something to do with…font? She ignored it once more; he was weird.

Then she inhaled some pollen, and while she recognised the pollen as Buttercups, she wasn't afraid- because she was already technically dead she couldn't die again- but she was curious. Of course, cracking open an eye she glared at the obviously human figure standing over her with curiosity and worry both in her crimson eyes. Crimson eyes that Frisk found fascinating to stare into, but not fascinating enough to go on one of her father's famous 'thinking tangents'. She'd been seen doing one or two in her time when she found something that she didn't understand or that she wanted knowledge on, but thankfully nobody had actually remembered her doing them.

Sitting up abruptly, and ignoring the squeak that the human made when she shot up and obviously surprised them, Frisk looked around. "Hmm…low-hanging rock ceiling, smell of despair and terror, yellow Buttercups lying around and dying trees straight outta some sort of old horror flick…" standing, ignoring the hapless human next to her, Frisk looked around once more, breathing in dramatically as if taking in the new smell of a car, or the scent of a new house. "Yep, the Underground; looks homey."

Turning when she heard another squeak- _'seems the human finally noticed the feet'_ , she thought amusedly- she stared into crimson eyes, her white pinpricks staring straight into her soul.

The girl on the ground was…scared- well, having just woken up from what seemed to be some sort of hundred-year long sleep, you'd be scared too. The person in front of her didn't even seem threatening to her, but you never know with the Underground; down here you can have the most grotesque monsters with hearts as soft as wool, or cute monsters with hearts as cold as ice. It was a world of Kill or Be Killed down here. Well, it _was_ …obviously she'd been asleep for quite a while.

Or was she dead? Chara had no idea, but being in a physical body that was obviously hers, and the fact that she wasn't transparent, helped ease her mind slightly. Maybe the whole thing with Asriel was a dream, and she'd find her Mother Toriel sitting at a table waiting for her back at Home, or her father Asgore waiting to tell her the next 'great adventure' he'd come up with in his mind. And hopefully, maybe…Asriel would still be alive, and he'd still hang out with her even though she terrified him to no end, and maybe she'd help fix that somewhat-broken relationship and she could finally leave her hate for humanity behind.

Maybe…but then the memories all came rushing back…she had died, been dead for something around a hundred years- her emotions were all over the place. But she'd fix this. She'd find Toriel and hug her so hard she'd never forget her warmth, and she'd cuddle up to Asgore and listen to him ramble on and on while sipping from his admittedly good tea, or maybe…she'd visit Asriel's grave and apologise for everything she did. Everything she said and all the mean words she spouted. Apologise for being the cause of his death, for trying to pressure an obviously soft soul to harden and expect him to fight the humans above ground. Of course she was foolish in thinking that his spirit- wherever it was- would forgive her, but Chara wouldn't stop until her sins stopped crawling on her back and decided that she'd repented enough.

But first…perhaps she could start on her road of reconciliation by guiding this human-that-obviously-wasn't-a-human- I mean, humans didn't have skeletal feet and pinprick eyes with empty eye sockets, did they? No, but skeletons did, which brought up the question of 'who was the monster that she was born from?' and others such as that.

"Uh…" But, first, before she could ask anything, she'd have to introduce herself.

"Hey, having trouble introducing yourself?" at the sound of the obviously female hybrid's voice Chara simply nodded once; her mouth was dry, but not from nervousness or anything. She'd not had a drink in practically a century, so what do you expect? She could also feel her stomach rumble and her pulse jump at the faint thought of food- but she pushed it back in favour of nodding wordlessly again. "Nah, don't worry 'bout it; can't introduce myself neither."

Chara, having gotten a little bit more strength back after that, spoke up. "Well, I'm Chara; Chara Dreamurr. Somewhat-Princess of the Underground."

Frisk nodded in acceptance to the name and title- she found it quite cute to be honest; but her soul wasn't. the damn thing was practically _filled_ with determination…enough to do RESETS. She was getting some sort of bad feeling from the- by the looks of it- year-younger kid, but eventually she sighed. If timelines could get messed up by her, then she was in no position to rattle on someone else who could mess them up too. Frisk just hoped the kid didn't mess it up any worse than she could.

"Frisk."

Chara, however, tilted her head sideways. "No last name?"

Frisk grinned beneath her scarf- this would be a good time for her. "Nah; dad never had the _backbone_ to actually marry ma, and she never had a last name anyway. He was the ' _bone_ to be wild' kind, found settling down a hassle- but I don't think he regretted it."

Frisk grinned some more beneath her scarf when Chara groaned in exasperation at the puns she pulled.

So, in her infinite wisdom, Frisk decided to do some more- Chara's smile, however annoying she found the puns, spurred Frisk on a little, and soon they spent about ten minutes back and forth-ing some admittedly good puns. Again, Frisk forgot to bring pen and paper with her so she could write them down for later reference, but she'd probably remember them anyway…probably.

Then, that feeling she felt from the kid came back, but it was coming from behind her, not in front- so of course she just had to stop throwing around puns and shuffle the nervous human behind her. Being half human didn't mean you thought of yourself as one- you got the best qualities from both races with none of the drawbacks, that didn't exactly make you the same as every other person you came across. In recorded history there have only been about ten or so hybrids, including her, so she could technically consider her kind a different race altogether.

Looking down, the human with their head popping over her shoulder worryingly, Frisk spotted a…flower. A flower…with a goddamned _face_.

"Huh. Well…don't see _that_ on the surface."

The flower either didn't hear her or didn't care what she said, but it did gain an obviously fake smile- that feeling was back again, by the way. Dark and tingly and almost tangible. It felt viscous and reminded her of the time her dad got truly angry. There was a faint sound of static around the three of them, the feeling of dread multiplying and screaming at her to _rungetawayfightandkillandobliteratethislittlemurderer_ \- then she blinked, her eyes going back to white pinpricks from their red magical glow. That feeling really put her on edge for her to ever consider using survival instincts over logical reasoning.

The fake-smiling flower looked up at her, and fake-gasped in fake-surprise; everything about it was fake, down to the way it greeted her and its goddamn name. though for some reason she felt the flower's name wasn't a falsity at all. She actually felt kind of bad about it.

"Well, Golly! You must be new around here, aint'cha?" before Frisk could even agree or disagree- and Chara could answer- the flower continued. "Well howdy then! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"

Kneeling down, Frisk looked the flower in the eye for a full minute, trying to find out its motives to playing this obviously fake game of 'be friends'. "Flowey, eh?"

"Yep! That's me!"

"…I almost feel sorry for you." At this, Flowey's grin disappeared before coming back, just a little more nervous than before. "I mean, Flowey? What poor sod named you that uncreative name?"

"I…did…"

"Oh…"

After that riveting conversation, the flower seemed to gain its spunk back and looked at the other human besides Frisk- for some reason he hadn't made the distinction between 'human', 'monster', and 'hybrid'. Frisk was slightly upset about it, but she rolled those feelings away.

"Howdy! I'm Flo…wey…"

The human stared at the flower, the flower at the human, then they both looked at Frisk who had somehow managed to ignore them in favour of exploring a bit. Then they both looked at each other, then Frisk who was sitting in the golden flowers reading a book from who-knows-where, then back at each other, then Frisk- who had somehow gotten a chessboard and was playing it with herself.

Then, they looked at each other. "Ch-Ch-Chara…?"

Frisk was playing solo Twister when Chara replied, but soon got bored again.

"Azzy…?"

Frisk simply rolled her pinpricks when Chara hugged the flower to her stomach, both crying and weeping about 'failed plans' and 'sorry'. She ignored them- emotions weren't her thing. Guess she got that from her dad. Turning, ignoring the reuniting flower and human, she spotted something that made her, the unflappable Frisk…spit-take. It was absurd, but considering they were now surrounded by monsters of all shapes and sizes she shouldn't be too surprised about what she saw. But it was taking all of her willpower not to run up to the thing and

"I-Is that a GOAT!?"

Of course she was ignored by the reuniting couple, and of course she was heard by the…goat…thing…and of course she couldn't handle it all.

So she did what she usually does when she can't handle situations like this.

She puns. "Well, this is a _baaaaad_ situation we've found ourselves in."

Two groans and a giggle later, and Frisk found herself liking the idea of being Underground.

But that static-y dangerous feeling from earlier? That never left.


	2. A Tu-Toriel

**This one's a filler guys- the next chapter's gonna be longer than this, but for now…I guess this is it. Next chapter should be coming out in about two days or so- so don't worry.**

(^^^^^^)

" _how many this time?"_

 _Seventeen_

" _and how many have you died through?"_

… _Seventeen._

"… _oh."_

 _-Sans to Frisk._

(^^^^^^)

Toriel was a fun person to be around, Frisk decided. She was very helpful in explaining their whereabouts in the world- or, more of, in the Underground-, and while she had bad puns at least she was trying. Unlike Chara, at least. That girl seemed to detest puns- said they were too 'distastefully' unfunny. She'd managed to pull off a few earlier sure, but they weren't the best that Frisk had heard, and while Chara gave up when Frisk stopped finding them funny Toriel didn't. The goat woman seemed almost determined- she snickered in her head- to make her laugh, and when she let loose a chuckle at one of the 'bone' puns she'd made, Toriel's already wide smile grew a little wider.

Frisk had noticed her stare linger on Chara though, almost in disbelief- but brushed it off. The flower that was her son wasn't her son anymore, and the girl that came back from the dead wasn't so dead…but clinical detachment became something she'd mastered- what with all the human children falling down and getting themselves attached to her only to die the next day. So Toriel simply detached herself of any and all familial attachment to the two children- one somehow resurrected and the other a talking flower with _literally_ no SOUL- to save herself the heartache of them eventually dying again.

She seems to have taken a liking to Frisk though- and Frisk didn't mind. The talking anthropomorphic goat was fun to talk to and, although they'd only known each other for the better part of ten minutes, she found her being good friends with the caretaker.

"Hey Tori?"

The goat had taken a liking to the nickname, her face beaming that little bit brighter whenever she heard it- but then she scrunched up in thought before shrugging, obviously trying and failing to pick a nickname that wouldn't offend her new friend. So, for now, she just settled for 'Frisk'.

Turning to Frisk, she smiled a little and watched the girl turn her head to her in response. Toriel wouldn't admit it, but she liked the full attention she was given- it made her think of happier times, being the omnibenevolent queen of the Underground around them, smiling in adoration at Gaster's 'Gaster Blaster' creations, or in wonderment at Grillby's greasy yet oh-so tasty food. Better times like that flashed through her head so fast that in the real word not a second had passed, and it made her thankful that her new friend didn't have to witness her losing her mind to the past.

"Yes, Frisk?" she'd given up calling her 'my child' when Frisk had declared that if she kept it up Frisk would start calling her 'mama goat', and as much as she enjoyed the thought, from someone as old as Frisk it felt wrong. So, she simply stuck to Frisk's name for Frisk, and Chara and Flowey being 'my child'.

It made things simpler for her.

"I just gotta ask…"

"Hm?"

Thinking on her question for a while, Frisk came up with the best way to word it without sounding too…forward. She tried not to sound too nervous either but could feel it seeping through the cracks in her voice. "Are there any…skeletons….in the Underground?"

Toriel stopped in thought, her mind confused and befuddled as to why a human would seem interested in skeletons of all things- but she did give it a think anyway. Her new friend seemed nice enough to not want to do any harm to them, and if she was asking the Queen nature within her demanded that she answer, if not out of duty then politeness. She'd heard rumours of two 'skele-bros' living in Snowdin, the town just beyond the door of the Ruins- and her mind hadn't made that connection yet. Nevertheless, she'd heard rumours but rumours could hardly be considered true- again, at the same time she felt as though Frisk deserved an answer. She was a friend, newly-made or not, and while that counted for hardly anything she felt that she could trust Frisk with the responsibility of not doing anything malicious with the information. Again, the way Frisk had asked the question brought thoughtfulness to her mind; Toriel could not see why she would sound so…apprehensive about it- yet somehow managing to keep her laid-back personality in check and barely allowing anything to flow beyond it. Like a wall, she mused, had been erected to keep her true emotions behind it while the wall itself was in plain view for all to see.

Snapping back to reality once she spotted Frisk's curious gaze, Chara and Asr- Flowey thankfully not noticing, she turned a grinned sheepishly a little.

"You okay? Looking a bit _sheepish_ there."

Toriel giggled, but the reason for her nervousness was what brought her back to sense. She imperceptibly straightened her back somewhat, her eyes sharpened, her lips thinned, and then she released a breath before un-tensing and answering Frisk's question.

"I think there are two in a town called Snowdin, but…they're only rumours so…" She stopped talking when she saw the hopeful look on Frisk's face- she didn't want to ruin that. Toriel had no idea that Frisk was seemingly looking forward to the skeletons that may or may not be there in the first place- but thinking on it, it made some sense.

The skeletal hand was the most obvious reason.

I mean, a skeleton-hybrid would be interested for obvious reasons, what with Skeletons being damn-near extinct and all. But now she found that another problem had arisen; Snowdin was a nice place, sure, but the rest of the Underground? No place for a human, a seemingly-defenceless flower, and a human-monster hybrid that looked so lazy she'd probably let the enemy kill her just to be able to sleep.

Then a thought occurred to her.

She couldn't keep attempting to keep children here for them only to grow to resent her and leave by force- and with Frisk being the first person to be her friend instead of 'child' she didn't come under the same self-appointed jurisdiction as the rest did. Children she could take care of, but near-adults? Not a chance. Sighing at her inner turmoil, trying her hardest to keep her emotions inward and not outward, Toriel led the trio to her home. But on the inside she tried- oh she tried- to think of Frisk as her child if only so she can feel a little bit worse about what she was about to do. As much as she tried to, though, she just couldn't. She struggled and struggled, even after leading them all to Chara's old room- Frisk dutifully taking the floor as a bed while the plant took the windowsill and Chara took her old bed. She eventually gave up.

Frisk could take care of herself, Toriel could feel it. Like a nagging sensation at the back of her mind that screamed at her for being so stupid as to ever even _try_ and categorise something like Frisk in the same way as she did with children like Flowey and Chara. There was also an air around Frisk that screamed 'Experience', and she hoped it was in the metaphorical kind and not the literal EXP.

It just became a matter of _when_ Frisk wanted to leave that worried her.

Speaking of…before the girl turned in for the night, using her purple striped sweater as a mattress of sorts on the floor while nothing but a dark purple shirt covered her torso, Toriel gently yet firmly gripped Frisk's human arm. The scarf, strangely, was still covering the lower half of her face, and while it did look good on her Toriel questioned the reason as to why Frisk would go as far as to sleep with the thing on- she shrugged mentally a moment later; it was hardly her business.

"You know…I could ask one of my friends that I talk to every night beyond the door that leads out of the Ruins." She wasn't afraid of Frisk leaving her as much as she was of her previous children- that feeling of Frisk being able to take care of herself attested to that slightly. Yet she felt as though something was wrong…as though Frisk was hiding something- and it felt…wrong. Unnatural.

Ah, it was probably nothing. "He might be able to give me a solid answer to your question from earlier."

Frisk, in response, grinned slightly- her left eye a little wider than the right, reminding Toriel of a certain Royal Scientist that mysteriously disappeared. "Thanks Tori. It means a lot."

Toriel had no idea why it meant so much to her to find some skeletons, but if she was right in her assumption from earlier it was probably the only thing aside from her Overground parents that she had left. The remnants of one of her two races…Toriel could only guess how it would feel, having no personal experience in such a loss. She knew loss- Chara's death and Asriel's…flower-fication…attested to that. But she also knew what finding said lost thing felt like.

Looking around the room, Toriel's hand still gripping her arm slightly, Frisk spotted Chara's unconscious form snoring loudly- she'd fallen asleep as soon as she hit the bed, regardless of the fact that she shouldn't even be tired. Though Frisk chalked it up to the emotional turmoil the girl had probably been through. Flowey was asleep over by the window, his form looking nothing like the fake demonic little plant she saw earlier.

Turning to Toriel, who's grip had left her, Frisk grasped her arm this time, gentle enough to stop her but not hard enough to be felt beyond a slight tug. Toriel had turned her head to her in response, a quizzical expression on her face and curiosity in her eyes.

"Don't push Chara way, Tori." Her voice was quieter, aware of the fact that she could wake up any of the sleeping residence in the room- and that wasn't what she wanted, not while she said her piece.

"I…"

Frisk's gaze hardened from the soft look, and her eyes spoke of experience- that she knew what she was talking about and she'd been through what Toriel is going through now. She hadn't, of course, but she felt something similar…years ago.

"Don't. she needs you as much as you clearly need her." Lifting her other hand to stop Toriel's objections, she used her hand gripping Toriel's arm to drag the goat mother into a warm hug- arms encasing her in a way that was both warm and trapping.

Toriel couldn't escape even if she wanted to.

"Trust me, Tori- something's not right with her; death did somethin' to 'er. Love her like you did before…well, before all of _this_. Love her and Flowey- or Asriel, whoever he was." She murmured into her friend's shoulder- her head barely came to Toriel's chin- and smiled softly when she felt her new friend's tears dripping onto her bare neck. It was sweet that her words had reached so deeply to her friend's core, hit so hard and touched so strongly- she felt honoured, slightly relieved as well, but mostly honoured that her friend had such a high opinion of her after meeting barely seven hours ago.

Gentle sniffles and sobs echoed throughout the room afterwards.

The rest of the night went by relatively uneventful.

(^^^^^^)

The static noise that never truly went away earlier was back and louder than ever, filling her ears with the sound of a malfunctioning TV for the rest of the night- sleep barely came to her any other time anyway, but the next morning she felt inexplicably tired.

For some reason she had the feeling that it was only going to get worse.


	3. Kill For Secrecy

**Sorry this chapter took so long, but, you know, things to do and all that.**

(^^^^^^)

" _You know…dad wasn't the best."_

" _Really? I would have thought mum's royal scientist was a cool dad."_

"…"

"… _He's not a bad dad, right?"_

"…"

"… _Frisk?"_

 _-Frisk and Chara: on Gaster._

(^^^^^^)

A left eye shot open, then a right, then a scream tore from her lips as she ripped her scarf from her face- thankfully she'd thrown up a hand to cover her mouth before it became too loud for the entire house to hear, but both residents sharing the room with her could be heard through the darkness shifting around. Flowey's shifting sounded kind of like someone stepping through crunchy leaves, but muted. Chara's rather loud snoring stopped for a full second, grumbling heard through the silence before a loud thud and more snores.

She stayed there, sitting on the floor with her sweater as the mattress on which she'd lain upon, lungs filling themselves with as much oxygen as she could get- she'd removed her hand from her mouth, startled sobs drifting through each breath now and then. Her left eye had gone completely black while the right had flickers of red, magic wafting from her flickering pupil in waves which she attempted to get under control. A red magic tear leaked down her cheek and she softly brushed her scarf back around her chin- acting both as security and a mop for the tears.

Once her breathing came under control Frisk stood from the floor, grumbling under her breath while lifting her sweater above her head and putting her arms through the sleeves; a second later she gently opened her room door and stepped outside, closing it softly and turning around. Her left eye lit up briefly, flashing a red, luminescent glow down the hallway. The darkness lit up before she memorised the location of the stairs and, using her determination to stay quiet lest she wake everyone up, Frisk snuck down the stairs with the creaking floorboards being the only traitors to her plans.

Finally making it to the bottom of the stairs, her mission complete despite the stairs and their attempts to trip her up, her eyes, both this time, glowed and instead of flickering off stayed on. The light of one eye could light up a hallway with dim light akin to that of a fading torch with low battery life, but both could light up an entire cave akin to that of a wall light being switched on. The corners of the kitchen she'd walked in stayed dark of course, but the rest was lit up enough for her to find the fridge well enough, open it, and grab some left over Butterscotch-cinnamon pie. Not even caring for the fact that four whole bars of human-brand chocolate had been left in the fridge with a small sticky note on it, Frisk closed the fridge and made her way to the centre of the living room.

The fire was still going, which made her wonder why she even used her magic to see in the first place, before she brushed it off and- without much deliberation- went over and sat down in Toriel's chair. It was quite comfortable, if a bit springy and old-fashioned, with feet recliners for resting her weary legs on and armrests on which she placed the plate of leftover pie. Sitting for a full minute just staring at the fire that crackled softly, a warm orange glow illuminating the space around her and casting shadows that seemed to almost dance around with melodic patterns and shapes; they twisted and pulled at her psyche, looking like figures ice skating one minute and dancers the next- some even pulled themselves into animal shapes that she remembered surface creatures looking like.

Remembering the plate of pie she'd left on the side of her seat, Frisk moved her skeletal hand to grab it, bringing the plate close to her face before she sighed- she wasn't even hungry, didn't even have to eat. Besides, the pie would be useful as a bargaining chip for Toriel later on if she left it out and waited for it to mould a little before complaining- that way she could maybe coax the goat-mum to make her some better monster food. She needed sustenance beyond dreadful human food and pies.

"Heh, I just can't _stomach_ the pie." She snickered a second to herself softly, before using her magic to levitate the pie and sit it down on a small table just across from the fireplace. Maybe she'd keep it warm- Tori had gone out of her way to make said pie after all. No point in upsetting her.

Her eyes finally stopped glowing, the light dying down and leaving nothing but the fireplace to light up the area around her. The chair she sat upon got uncomfortable when she wriggled a little, so standing up seemed almost relieving. Checking her watch, her pin-prick eyes flew open in shock.

It was only two in the morning. She shouldn't even be shocked about her lack of sleep- skeletons shouldn't sleep anyway, because as they slept due to lack of brain functioned they didn't dream. They were always submerged in thick, inky black that crawled around them and slithered like snakes. The VOID.

She dreamt of the VOID too, and while skeletons found the place comforting her human side found it a terrifying place- it practically leaked corruption and hopelessness, everything humans innately feared, everything they hoped to avoid. As such she avoided sleep as much as possible, and found herself foolish for thinking she could sleep last night under the thought that if she was in some different place things would change. How stupid of her indeed; humans can never enter the VOID, and should never due to it being completely unnatural- skeletons however were practically welcomed to the VOID, a place of darkness that they could bend to their whims, a place of fear in which creations of her father's descendants created. A place where skeletons were born, lived, and died in the past- well beyond the age of humans.

Because she was a complete anomaly to the VOID it simply allowed her entrance; no protection from the creatures that lurked there, no shield from the corruption that threatened her very SOUL whenever she entered it. She was a paradox, allowed there yet not, and because of that the VOID simply left her be. Its inhabitants however did not, but she shook that from her mind.

Every night of sleep was a battle with the things within that nightmare realm. As a plus though she at least got to stretch her imaginary legs and practise her combat skills

Looking outside the window that sat across from the fireplace and just to the right of her own chair, she sighed. Nothing better to do than wait for the rest of the house's inhabitants to awaken and maybe read a book.

Grabbing the first one she saw Frisk grimaced, her scarf shifting with her face.

 _72 Facts About Snails_.

This was gonna be a _long_ wait.

(^^^^^^)

It was odd how skeletons could eat and, yet, they had nowhere for the food to go and no need for the nutrition in the first place; like herself, Frisk figured, the way a skeleton eats is a paradox- it happens when it shouldn't. she thought this briefly as she finally mustered up the strength to nibble on the pie she'd left out- she didn't want such a thing to go to waste after all, but while tasty she could feel how it was meant for human mouths and not monster. Toriel must be used to human food if this is all she makes, and while Frisk should be used to such food, she just couldn't find the _stomach_ for it.

The rest of the house had woken earlier than she was used to people waking at- six in the morning was rather early by human standards, but she figured with the monsters being trapped Underground they couldn't tell the time effectively, and thus had to make do with natural body reactions to sleeping and when to wake up. They'd probably made an entire system based on who went to sleep when and worked around it, of which she found quite ingenious. Humans couldn't even do that, and they were supposedly 'superior'.

Chara, surprisingly, was the first to wake, shocking Frisk a little but she didn't let it show; she watched out of the corner of her eye as the girl limped like a zombie through the halls and down the stairs, turning corners with almost practised ease and slipping into the kitchen. She'd released a groan every now and then when the Ruins' light shone through the closed curtains, but was otherwise unresponsive. Well, that is until she reached the fridge door and opened it- it seems she spotted the chocolate, because Frisk could just feel the happiness radiating off of the girl. She was unused to such emotions- her father was always strict yet kind, but never happy, and her mother was a human of which she felt she couldn't relate to all that well.

"It seems I'm not the only one awake." She turned her head, just enough to see over the shoulder of the chair she sat on, and noticed Chara had grabbed her chocolate and was mewling in content with every bite- the sticky note that said 'For Chara' was thrown to the ground haphazardly. Frisk sighed- her peace and quiet never seemed to last, either on the surface or the Underground.

"Got up around about two, haven't slept since." Frisk waved off the worry in Chara's eyes; she never was good with dealing with emotions that weren't coming form her mother. Made sense considering she was reclusive up on the surface, working on one thing or another and never 'having the time' to socialise. In reality she just didn't like the idea of humans finding out her… _duality_ , and while she was sure they've changed from their monster-hating ways, she couldn't risk it. Gaster was the only one they seemed to like, but that was probably because he could pose as a human if he just applied a little blush to his cheeks and wore coveralls. "Relax; skeletons don't need much sleep."

Chara scooted into the space Frisk had made for her upon Frisk's insistence, and snuggled into the side of the chair- she was feeling refreshed after her first sleep in what seemed to be centuries, and while she knew some monsters didn't need sleep, Frisk was a hybrid with a human side too and she couldn't help but worry. "You're human too, you know; and I get the feeling you forget that sometimes."

Frisk glanced at her, almost appraising the strong tone she'd used, before dismissing it with a flick of her finger against Chara's forehead. As the red-eyed girl frowned and rubbed her now sore forehead, Frisk snickered. "Relax, _tibia_ honest I'm always _bone-tired_."

Chara growled, not wanting to show Frisk the satisfaction of Chara's smile peeking through. While they were terrible puns Chara was glad at least that Frisk could be this funny instead of moping. Sighing, the two girls sat there for an hour, watching the fire finally die out after its seven hours of life, and sputter into nothing but hot coals and burnt wood, embers drifting around lazily. Once the light had gone from the room, darkness encompassing the two again, Frisk decided to use her magic eyes and light the room up in an almost eerie red glow.

Chara looked on in wonder, before sighing and rubbing her forehead; she was getting headaches just trying to figure out how a human-skeleton hybrid was even possible, and while she knew it could be, she questioned how Frisk had magic in the first place. Her human side should be fighting the magic with DETERMINATION, but for some reason Frisk seemed to be able to easily use her magic.

Chara promptly gave up trying to figure out the enigma that is Frisk, and went back to nibbling her chocolate.

It was another hour later when Toriel awoke, bringing Flowey down in his plant pot and placing him next to the dead fireplace. The flower didn't seem to have gained anything from the sleep, except a suspicious glare that he levelled at Frisk and a sweet smile he sent to Chara, the girl reciprocating in kind.

Frisk wasn't too bothered by Flowey's glares every now and then; he was just being territorial with his friend, and that was understandable. Frisk ignored him for the umpteenth time, hopefully getting it through to him that she wasn't out to snag Chara form under him, and stood form the chair. She could feel both sets of eyes on her, but she ignored it in favour of slinking past them both. As she reached the kitchen she could hear Toriel's humming that she'd, somehow, completely ignored while in the living room. Form the door to the kitchen she could faintly hear Chara and Flowey whispering to each other- it didn't sound good, but as long as it didn't involve her or timelines she'd let it be.

"Mornin' Tori." Toriel, as though surprised, sharply turned around to spot Frisk standing at the door with a lazy gait about her; was the girl always lazy? Well, if she was then that meant less cleaning up after her, and while commendable Toriel frowned at her own thoughts- Frisk was hardly as irresponsible to be a slob. Toriel just got this feeling from her that Frisk was probably more energetic than she let on. More dangerous too.

Whoever her monster parent was had been strong, and Toriel could practically feel magic flowing through Frisk's veins; it interested her, she'd admit it, but this was no child and Frisk's business was hers and hers alone- like how Toriel's business was her own, and hopefully would stay that way. Turning from the coffee machine she'd set up ready to pour into a cup, she wordlessly rose an eyebrow, a silent offering of said coffee- it was far too early for her to be parading around spewing 'my child' at everything that walked, so maybe today would be merciful and allow her some rest. The Froggits hadn't been seen around in quite some time, since the human fell yesterday in fact; some of them had bene seen, sure, but they'd quickly hopped away when she spotted them.

Toriel, while no longer queen, still held innumerable amounts of sway over the monsters of the Underground- arguably more than Asgore did, but that wasn't really the point. The point was…she wanted coffee, and she would be damned if anything stopped her from getting it.

"Thanks, Tori." Sitting down at the small table that had been shoved off to the side of the kitchen, in a corner next to a potted plant that looked weirdly like a cactus- the most tsundere of plants, she mused- Frisk began to idly stare at the wall. As if it held life's mysteries, she looked in-depth at a small crack, oddly shaped like a human fist, but not large enough to be made by any self-respecting adult, and not recently made too.

She sighed- that coffee would help keep her thoughts clear- and she spotted Toriel out of the corner of her eye reading some newspaper that looked old- worn, with pages faded and edges with holes in, looking coffee stained as though she'd read it numerous times. It was a damn newspaper, and while Frisk knew Toriel liked to read she didn't think she liked to read _this_ much. Ignoring it and accepting the mug handed to her, she didn't even bother with worrying about her looks and lowered her scarf; it was only Tori in here after all, and the woman had been a good friend to her- well as good as any friend one makes after just a day.

So, as Toriel sat next to her sipping her coffee with one hand and bunching up the newspaper with the other, Frisk lowered her scarf enough to reveal her face and took a long sip of the coffee she was given. Toriel, hearing what sounded like drinking, turned to look at the perpetrator only to widen her eyes.

Frisk's mouth was literally nothing but bone; the skin that covered the top half of her face seemed to seemingly fade away into nothing, but what was odd was while she did have lips they seemed made out of some form of soft bone. Toriel didn't realise she was staring until Frisk let out a sigh, dragging her out of her daydreaming and into the reality of the 'now' situation. As in; she was caught staring at her friend's face trying- and failing- to come up with an explanation as to how, exactly, Frisk could even drink anything, let alone possess lips.

"Oh…sorry Frisk."

"Nah, 's okay Tori; ma had the same reaction when I was born- dad told me so." She sipped her coffee again, sighing at how much more bitter it was than tea, and frowned when she noticed Toriel had already gone back to reading.

Oh well, might as well ask her questions while she's here. "Frisk, I need you to promise me something."

Well…Toriel beat her to it, it seems. "Hm?"

"I need you to promise me that you'll watch them."

Frisk instantly knew who 'them' was; Chara and Flowey. That flower didn't need anyone watching him- she could tell just by looking at him that he could RESET and LOAD/SAVE. In all honesty that flower put her at edge, even now- he had no SOUL, which means no emotions, which means everything he'd been telling Chara had been a lie fabricated by whatever remnants of a good person lay within him had conjured up. Flowey was someone that she needed to ignore because he'd simply drag her away from her objectives; getting out of the Underground, and finding some skele-friends. Snickering at that last thought, she turned to Toriel and nodded.

"Sure thing, Tori; I'll keep an eye socket out for Chara."

Toriel almost rounded on her after she said that, her face unusually stern and serious- it shocked Frisk for a little. " _And_ Flow-Asriel." She didn't miss the mistake, but thought nothing of it; Frisk was too busy trying not to shiver under Toriel's heavy gaze.

"Tori, don't make me promise something I might not be able to keep." Toriel's gaze had hardened, but from somewhere deep within herself Frisk had pulled out some grit and toughened up. "Chara? Yeah, sure, I could watch that kid all day- she's got a good SOUL, if a little tainted, and she's got low LV. I could keep he rout of trouble, steer her in the right direction, do anything for that kid, but Flowey?" seeing Toriel's gaze soften, thinking she'd gotten through to her, Frisk continued, her voice a little more confident- after she'd stopped her bones from rattling at the death stare she'd received earlier. "Flowey has…he's got more LV than I do- and I have maxed out mine at 20." Toriel gasped at this, but Frisk continued onwards. She needed this to be said. "Tori, listen- that flower has no SOUL; he is _literally_ nothing but raw DETERMINATION and a little bit of magic, with monster's Dust having been sprinkled over him."

"Tori-"

"Frisk; _promise me_."

"Don't make me do this Tori; I can't keep that flower out of-" she'd stopped talking when she felt a large rough furred hand gently clasp her skeletal one- a gesture that meant a little too much to the skeleton side of her, causing a blush to rise to her ears. She had no doubts that Toriel didn't know what she was doing, but things like this were regarded as extremely intimate between skeletons- they nuzzled skulls or cheeks when they were expressing love, they touched hands when they expressed need, they expressed desire by rubbing jaws together, they expressed sadness by using magic as tears instead.

" _please_."

Frisk felt…well, she didn't really know, emotions weren't her forte after all- but she did know that a promise meant more to her than anything.

If Tori, her friend, wanted her to keep a promise, then she'd have to promise something in return.

"…Promise me something Tori, and I'll promise it to you."

In response, Toriel tightened her grip from comforting to gentle but warming; her skeletal hand was practically stuck in a massive furry vice, and she didn't really feel all that willing to tell Toriel that her paw was starting to make her feel things. Meh, Toriel was straight, and kind enough to let her down gently if she did try anything. But that's not what bothered her- what bothered her was that Toriel didn't seem to notice the emotional distress that holding her hand, no matter how friendly, had been.

"Promise me…promise me you'll take care of yourself, and that you'll always leave a door open for me to come see you sometime, kay?"

"I promise, Frisk." A pause. "And…your promise?"

Frisk chuckled in response, pulling her scarf back over her face in response and hiding it just below her ears like last time.

"I…promise that I'll take care of both of them; keep them safe, warm, protect them with everything. Even if I have to kill to do it; I'd slaughter everyone down here to keep 'em safe. Just for you."

Toriel, in response, giggled with a tear streaking down her furred, smiling face.

They both sat there for the rest of the morning just talking. Talking like true friends should.

(^^^^^^)

The static hadn't vanished, but it hadn't grown- and Frisk, leading Chara and Flowey out of Toriel's house to go 'spelunking', felt something gnaw at the back of her mind like an angry dog starved of food. Something was going to happen…and her promise made just this morning might be broken before she could even try and keep it.

Toriel had thought that Frisk was joking when she said she'd keep them alive even if she had to kill to do it.

Frisk never had broken a promise before- and she wasn't going to start now.


End file.
